Operators of poultry or livestock houses, for obvious reasons, have a need to remove manure from the poultry or livestock houses. As a part of that removal, operators have also found it to be very beneficial to dry the manure as it is being removed for a number of reasons, including but not necessarily limited to, ease of handling, ease of storage, reduction in weight which make the dried manure more cost effective in shipping, disease/fly control, ease of field application/blend consistency, and very little nutrient content is lost by drying, such that it creates a more nutrient dense product relative to weight.
Current systems for the removal and drying of manure from poultry or livestock houses present many problems for the animal husbandry industry. For example, in a typical poultry house 22, as illustrated in FIG. 1, a manure removal and drying machine 21 along with a permanently placed wall 28 separate a high pressure area or room 29 from a low pressure area or room 27. The manure removal and drying machine 21 has a plurality of levels of perforated belts or conveyors 24 along which the manure travels as it is dried and removed from the poultry house 22. Air flow (depicted by arrows facing to the left in FIG. 1) into the high pressure room 29 caused by fans (not shown) running within the poultry house 22 causes static pressure to buildup in the high pressure room 29. The manure removal and drying machine 21 of the prior art allows the air flow, forced by the static pressure within the high pressure room 29, to flow into and across the manure removal and drying machine 21, typically at every other level of perforated belt 24. This air flow, however, is then forced to divert either upwardly or downwardly (FIG. 1 illustrates air flow both upwardly and downwardly, although some prior art manure removal and drying machines only allow air flow either upwardly or downwardly), through the perforations in the perforated belts 24, and out of the manure removal and drying machine 21 and into the low pressure room 27.
Such a configuration, however, does not allow for efficient operation of the entire manure removal and drying system as there is an excessive buildup of static pressure in the poultry house 22. The manure removal and drying machine 21 is only designed to allow for a small amount of air and static pressure to move therethrough from the high pressure room 29 to the low pressure room 27, i.e., for minimum ventilation of the poultry house 22. When more fans are running within the poultry house 22, extra static pressure is generated and builds up in the high pressure room 29, but this is static pressure that the manure removal and drying machine 21 does not need, thus resulting in possible inefficient operation of the manure removal and drying machine 21.
Also, typical manure removal and drying systems use a manual stop and start control (full speed or nothing), which requires constant attention from an operator, and causes inconsistent loading of the dryer system.
Further, typical manure removal and drying systems have a plurality of manure belts which are staggered relative to one another in a vertical arrangement. More specifically, material or manure traveling along a first manure belt in a first direction will be dropped onto a second manure belt traveling in a second direction. The manure is then dropped onto a third manure belt traveling in the same direction as the first belt, and then the manure is dropped onto a fourth belt traveling in the same direction as the second belt, and so on and so forth for as many manure belts are provided in the manure removal and drying system. Such a configuration wastes time and energy, however, as the entire operating capacity of the manure and removal drying system is not needed when the amount of manure is minimal. Furthermore, when maintenance is required on one or more of the conveyor belts, the entire system must be shut down in order to perform the maintenance.
Also, the belts 24 of the manure removal and drying machine and system are typically supported by a fixed member, such as a support tube or any other structural and/or functional equivalent thereof. Because these members are fixed, a large amount of friction is generated by the belts 24 moving over the fixed members, thus limiting the length at which the belts 24 can operate. Currently, it is believed that most belts 24 in manure removal and drying machines/systems are limited to a length of approximately 260 feet. It would be desirable to increase the length of the belts 24 for a variety of reasons, including but not limited to, the possible removal of levels of belts 24 in the manure removal and drying machine 21 and the ability to lengthen the drying time of the manure within the manure removal and drying machine 21.
These and other drawbacks are solved by the present invention.